Vietnam aims for average GDP growth of 7%

The target for average annual GDP growth for the next five years has been set at 7%, said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

At the opening session of the 44th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Dung also announced that the country aims to cut its poverty rate by 2% per year, as well as double the income for people living in rural areas against levels of late 2010 during the same five-year period.

Dung added that the average annual GDP growth has been estimated to be 7.26% over the past 10 years, and that the poverty rate dropped to below 10% in 2010, from 58% in 1993. He called for further support from the ADB, pledging to effectively use the funds.

ADB Chairman Haruhiko Kuroda said that ADB would increase preferential loans to Vietnam, especially for projects involving the environment, transport infrastructure and poverty reduction.

At the Vietnam Business Forum held on May 3, Vo Hong Phuc, Minister of Planning and Investment, said that the top priority for local governments this year is curbing inflation, and not economic growth.

Le Xuan Ba, Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, was cited by Vietnam Communist Party Newspaper that Vietnam has gained high economic growth, but not necessarily the right kind of growth.

Labour productivity and investment efficiency of projects, particularly ones using funds from the state budget, remain low. Vietnam is also facing serious environmental problems such as loss of biodiversity, water and air pollution, along with a number of economic issuses such as high inflation, trade deficit and VND depreciation.

According to a report by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Vietnam had 36,607 projects which used capital from the state budget in 2010. Up to 269 of them have been halted because of squandering of investments. – Dtinews

Tags: Vietnam economic, Vietnam economic growth, Vietnam economy, Vietnam economy 2011, Vietnam GDP 2011